Norfolk: We Need Good Managers

NORFOLK — "Wanted, a dozen or so highly qualified managers to help run the city.

"Pay and benefits? Pretty good.

"Work hours? Long.

"Frustration level? At times, off the chart."

That advertisement doesn't appear on the city's Web site, where vacant city jobs are listed, but it might as well.

Thanks to a recent spate of retirements and resignations, Norfolk is looking for about a dozen managers -- an unusually high number for any local city, most of which have only a handful of openings.

"It's a large number, but I don't have any heartburn over these vacancies," said City Councilman W. Randy Wright, who has been critical in the past of the time it has taken to fill key administrative positions.

In a tight budget year, the vacancies are helping city leaders save money on salaries, Wright said.

The open positions include a finance director and the city's director of public health. City Manager Regina V.K. Williams said she is close to hiring a manager of environmental protection, someone whose job will include monitoring the city's energy usage, a position Mayor Paul Fraim has pushed for in recent years.

The positions will command salaries of between roughly $57,000 and $149,000, according to the city's Web site.